Government policy and the triple lock

Sir, – Roger Cole claims that “all three government parties supported the triple lock in their election manifesto at the last election” (Letters, May 4th). This is not correct. Fine Gael made no such commitment in its 2020 manifesto and in fact committed to a wide-ranging review of Irish defence policy, albeit within the confines of our existing military non-alignment.

What is certainly true is that all three parties committed to retain the farcical “triple lock” in the 2020 Programme for Government, but Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have since seen the light and realised that in an increasingly unstable world it is not tenable for Russia and China – through their veto power at the UN Security Council – to have a greater say on the deployment of Irish troops than for the Irish Government or the Dáil.

This arrangement may suit groups such as that of Mr Cole which are conspicuously ambivalent about the actions of these gangster dictatorships, but it has no place in any mature sovereign democracy. – Yours, etc,

BARRY WALSH,

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Clontarf,

Dublin 3.

Sir, – Roger Cole, chair of the Peace & Neutrality Alliance, accuses the Government of being committed to destroying Irish neutrality by opting out of the triple lock, having committed to maintaining it in their election manifestos. I would point out to Mr Cole that the election manifestos were written before Russia invaded Ukraine and that by not opting out of the triple lock the Government would be maintaining Russia’s veto on the deployment of Irish troops.

I would also point out to Mr Cole that opting out of the triple lock does not affect Ireland’s neutrality in any way. – Yours, etc,

GARY DOYLE,

Straffan,

Co Kildare.